Airline launches first NON-STOP flight from London to Perth – it takes 17 hours

TRAVEL: An airline has announced it will offer a direct flight from the UK to Australia

Qantas Airways will be the first airline to launch a direct commercial flight between Australia and the UK.

The 17-hour flight will leave London Heathrow at 1.15pm on Sunday and arrive into Perth at 1pm the following day, with the Qantas Dreamliner then flying on to Melbourne.

The new route gives travellers the choice of exploring Perth, continuing to Melbourne or connecting to one of 11 other destinations with a same-day connection.

As the world’s number one travel agency to Australia, Flight Centre has seen high demand for the new service and has already sold enough seats to fill one and a half Qantas 787 Dreamliners before the flight has launched.

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FLYING: The flight will take 17 hours and will leave on Sunday and arrive on Monday

“It truly has opened up the whole of Australia to the UK market”

Justin Penny

Justin Penny, Head of Aviation at Flight Centre, said: “The new route has already prompted a huge amount of interest for destinations that previously would have until now taken more than one stop to reach in Australia, such as Alice Springs and Broome.

“It truly has opened up the whole of Australia to the UK market.

“Flight Centre definitely feels that long term the new route is viable and we will see additional services being launched from Europe to Australia in the coming years.”

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Flight Centre sells more than 1.3 million tickets to Australia every year.